Cong. Crawford Stresses Patience In Farm Bill, Senate Race Stirs Issue

A farm bill that was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year meets the needs of farmers in the region, Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, said Thursday to a group of rice farmers and industry leaders.

Crawford spoke to about 200 people at the RiceTec Field Day at the company’s offices near Harrisburg about the five-year bill and other topics.

Crawford, who will face Democrat Jackie McPherson and Libertarian Brian Scott Willhite in the November general election, said the bill helps Mid-South farmers and was crafted with the help of Sens. John Boozman, R-Rogers, and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., along with House Agriculture Committee chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas.

“Without it, we would have had to work with the Midwest approach,” Crawford said.

Crawford also credited the work of peanut and rice farmers in helping with the bill.

“While cotton farmers went their own way, the peanut and rice farmers, they are different but they worked together,” Crawford said.

Crawford also asked the farmers to be patient with federal officials, especially the area Farm Services Administration offices and the USDA.

“We don’t know how it will have an effect. We should have an answer by November or December (on the impact). The FSA offices only got it in February. So I encourage the producers to be patient,” Crawford said.

As for other issues, Crawford spoke to the group about proposed federal regulations involving critical habitat designations and ground water.

On the critical habitat issue, Crawford said nearly 40% of Arkansas would be covered under the regulation.

“It would stifle agriculture, especially next to rivers,” Crawford said. “The cattlemen, they have spillways on the waterway. Under a critical habitat, if cattle cross the waterway, the cattleman would be subject to a fine.”

As for ground water, Crawford said the rules have so much ambiguity that farmers would not be protected.

“They (the EPA) have said they are not regulating agricultural water,” Crawford said, mentioning a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about the issue using the phrase ‘significant nexus.’

“They have said it is not ‘significant nexus’ until it is a ‘significant nexus’ to an existing waterway. I would ask what nexus exists.”

COTTON-PRYOR SENATE POLITICS
After his remarks, Crawford spoke with Talk Business & Politics about an email sent out Tuesday by the campaign of Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Little Rock, about the farm bill.

In the email, Pryor’s campaign alluded to Rep. Tom Cotton’s vote against the farm bill and Crawford’s support of the farm bill, using an article from Delta Farm Press on the issue. The email also attempted to show some division between Crawford and Cotton on the issue.

“Instead of listening to Arkansans and supporting the bedrock of our state’s rural economy, Congressman Cotton recklessly voted in lockstep with the out-of-state billionaires funding his political ambitions,” Pryor campaign spokesman Erik Dorey said in a statement. “Congressman Cotton turned his back on the needs of Arkansas farmers, ranchers and rural families, and instead he sided with his elite Washington outsiders that frankly look down on Arkansans.”

Crawford said the comments he made to an agricultural group were not directed at Cotton, but a battle between urban and rural interests in the bill.

“I did not mention Rep. Cotton in my remarks. Nor was he on my mind (when I gave the speech),” Crawford said.

The congressman said there is constantly a battle among different interests in the bill, even among farmers in the First District on the issue of corn.

“West of Crowley’s Ridge, there is a lot of cattle and poultry. East of Crowley’s Ridge, there are row crops. One side wants to sell corn high while another side wants it to remain low,” Crawford said.

The email also brought a strong response from Cotton’s communications director, David Ray.

“Tom Cotton voted for a clean Farm Bill that did not hold our Arkansas farmers hostage to hundreds of billions of dollars in food stamp spending for a program that left-wing Washington politicians like Mark Pryor refuse to reform,” Ray said.

“Senator Pryor has stood by President Obama as he doubled food stamp spending in the last six years. Not only does Mark Pryor oppose a balanced budget, he has supported policies that have added $1 trillion to our national debt each year he’s been in Washington. He’d rather mortgage our children’s future to China than show leadership on a sustainable budget,” Ray added.